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The first cases of what the world later came to know as AIDS were reported in the United States in June 1981. HIV/AIDS deaths since 1981 in the United States have reached 500,000 and another more than 1.5 million who have been infected. The HIV infection has grown in pandemic proportions resulting in an estimated 65 million and 25 million HIV/AIDS deaths. The year 2005 alone has seen 2.8 million HIV/AIDS deaths. 4.1 million were newly infected in the same year and 38.6 million were living with HIV. Sub Saharan Africa and Caribbean regions are the worst affected areas. The risk has grown disproportionately in these regions. The women in sub Saharan Africa, men who have sex with men (MSM), injecting drug users (IDUs) and sex workers are at the highest risks of HIV/AIDS deaths.

Approximately 10% of the population that lives in sub Saharan Africa has approximately 64% of the worlds population living with HIV. In Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe, the estimated adult HIV prevalence exceeds 20% (2). South Africa, with an HIV prevalence of 18.8% and 5.5 million persons living with HIV, has, along with India, the largest number of persons living with HIV in the world. Although in these countries, HIV-related sexual risk behaviors and HIV incidence have decreased, HIV/AIDS deaths rates continue to rise. In sub-Saharan Africa, 17% of the estimated number of persons in need of Antiretroviral Therapy or ART received it in 2005.

Of the 8.3 million HIV-infected persons in Asia, 5.7 million live in India, where the prevalence varies by state. In the United States of America an estimated HIV/AIDS deaths of 524,060 occurred through 2003, including 18,017 in 2003. HIV-related mortality rates rose steadily through the 1980s, peaking in 1995. Between 1995 and 2002 the age-adjusted HIV/AIDS deaths rate declined by 70%, due largely to the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). In 2001, HIV was the 5th leading cause of death among those ages 25-44, down from 1 in 1995. However, HIV/AIDS deaths declines have slowed and may be stabilizing. Between 2001 and 2002, HIV death rates declined by 2%

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